Who you play depends on what you think is the answer to the following question- can you win a Cup with Tomas Vokoun as your goalie? If the answer is yes, you ride him for the rest of the postseason wherever it goes. If the answer is no, you go back to MAF and pray he doesn't go completely sideways and/or has his clunkers on non-elimination games.

SoupOrSam wrote:I believe Fleury is hands-down my choice for a shoot-out/in-game 1-0 breakaway....... His raw natural instincts take over and don't allow him to over-think, pure athleticism takes over and wins. Wouldn't want another goaltender from any other team.

However, when the dude has to think... it's pure farts. Completely over-thinks everything. I don't know, I used to defend it and say it's because of WXYZ (young, defense, coaching, etc) but I just can no longer tell myself it. That series completely made up my mind about him. He is a trainwreck mentally.

Agreed. I don't know if there's any goalie out there that's been as consistently great 1-on-1 as Fleury.

Malkamaniac wrote:Every bad goal/soft goal can't be attributed to having bad puck luck. You make your own luck in most instances.

The tying and winning goals in game 2 - yeah, you can argue that those were bad puck luck. Like I said when they happened, those are the hazards of having extremely lively end boards with an aggressive butterfly goalie like Fleury - but if they would've been none issues if the puck hadn't come off the boards just right. There are hundreds of other ways the puck could've bounced, none of which result in a goal.

The 2nd goal in game 2 (McDonald) and the 3rd goal in game 4 (Okposo) were the result of terrible puck tracking by Fleury, and the 6th goal in game 4 (Cizikas) was Fleury completely overplaying what should've been a simple "save".

SoupOrSam wrote:I believe Fleury is hands-down my choice for a shoot-out/in-game 1-0 breakaway....... His raw natural instincts take over and don't allow him to over-think, pure athleticism takes over and wins. Wouldn't want another goaltender from any other team.

However, when the dude has to think... it's pure farts. Completely over-thinks everything. I don't know, I used to defend it and say it's because of WXYZ (young, defense, coaching, etc) but I just can no longer tell myself it. That series completely made up my mind about him. He is a trainwreck mentally.

Agreed. I don't know if there's any goalie out there that's been as consistently great 1-on-1 as Fleury.

I agree with this. I am so confident in Fleury on breakaway/SO situations that I think he is (maybe easily) the best 1V1 goalie in the game. Unfortunately 99% of the game is played differently.

I knew this was going to pop up here. Don't forget to read this disclaimer at the top of the article:

"Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it."

That's the same with me, actually. Game 4 was the straw that broke this camel's back. Fleury's play in the next four weeks (and I think we will see him again, though hopefully not too soon), will go a long way in determining his future with the club. And it's not outside the realm of possibility that the Pen's buy him out over the summer IMO.

Crankshaft wrote:He will not get bought out. If they do decide to move on from Fleury, there is a team that would jump at him with his current contract.

Just spit-balling here, but if his days as a Penguins are done why would he approve a trade? He can pick up $11.5-million in a buy out, then go sign elsewhere - it's essentially free money.

Just for the sake of conversation, becasue I expect him to be reinstalled as the #1 and be back next year, but.....

Shero: Hey buddy, who's on your ok to trade list? MAF: No one who you would be able to make a deal with.Shero: No problem, bro. You won't see another minute of ice time, if I have to trade for Big Buff and put him in goal.

We're just talking hypothetically, here. Whenever Fleury does play again, I think he'll play great - he always seems to come back with big games. But the Pens should have a contingency plan in case he turns into the Penguin's version of Steve Blass.

Crankshaft wrote:He will not get bought out. If they do decide to move on from Fleury, there is a team that would jump at him with his current contract.

Just spit-balling here, but if his days as a Penguins are done why would he approve a trade? He can pick up $11.5-million in a buy out, then go sign elsewhere - it's essentially free money.

Just for the sake of conversation, becasue I expect him to be reinstalled as the #1 and be back next year, but.....

Shero: Hey buddy, who's on your ok to trade list? MAF: No one who you would be able to make a deal with.Shero: No problem, bro. You won't see another minute of ice time, if I have to trade for Big Buff and put him in goal.

Obvious hyperbole, but no one is untradable.

eddiefromirwin wrote:If indeed this situation would happen and he refused a trade, he would never see the ice as a Penguin.

Not to mention if he ate nachos for 2 seasons without seeing any NHL action.... his career would be in much more jeopardy than it is right now... no one would want to touch a 30 year old goalie who is spoiled in the press box... he certainly wouldn't get a contract worth more than a year at any more than 1 million

If they keep him, then what? If he fails again in the playoffs again next season the way he has the last four years, it's even more obvious they need to go in a different direction, and he'll only have one year remaining on his deal. Fleury still is viewed as if he's 23 and signed long-term. They have him under control for one more year than they have Vokoun. I don't see him being a long-term solution much more than Vokoun is. They probably need to start thinking about a replacement either way.